The present disclosure relates generally to peristaltic pump assemblies.
Rotary-style peristaltic pumps often generally include a cassette mounted to and supported by a pump body. In some instances, the pump body includes a cavity formed therein and configured to receive a planetary assembly of rollers. The rollers revolve together when rotationally driven by a drive shaft when the drive shaft is powered by a pump motor.
The cassette generally includes a body having a flexible tube disposed therethrough. When the cassette is mounted to the pump body, the flexible tube surrounds a portion of the assembly of rollers. In response to rotational movement of the rollers, portions of the flexible tube in contact with the rollers compress or otherwise occlude against a wall of the cassette. As a result, fluid traveling through the tube is temporarily trapped in the tube between the occluded points. The trapped fluid is released from the tube when the occlusion force on the tube is released. In this manner, fluid is urged through the tube via peristaltic wave action.
Peristaltic infusion pumps are often used to deliver fluid in a controlled manner, such as, for example, the intravenous delivery of pharmaceutical compositions to a patient. These peristaltic pumps typically use disposable cassettes, where the pump assembly is designed to accommodate the loading of the cassette, as well as the removal of the cassette from the assembly. Such designs, however, may undesirably involve relatively difficult cassette loading and removal schemes.